A&S Faculty Assembly October 3, 2008

College of Arts and Sciences

Faculty Assembly Meeting

October 3, 2008

Registering Attendance:

Professor Byers, Chair, called the meeting to order.

Jonathan Bender and Jeff Osgood were introduced as representatives to the Assembly from the A&S Student Council and the Graduate Student Council respectively.

The minutes of April 18, 2008, were approved as posted.

The Chair said that the document under discussion, “Minimum Guidelines for Graduate Education” came to the Assembly moved and seconded by the Curriculum, Planning and Budget, and Personnel Committees.

Prior to discussion of the substance of the document, the Chair proposed acceptance of two editorial changes on p. 5:

II. E. delete “a” before “doctoral mentors”

II. G. add commas before and after “and upon any changes”

The Chair recognized Professor Allen who proposed as a friendly amendment to the final sentence of II. D. the addition of “already” between “disciplines” and “included.” The Chair ruled that this would be a substantive change. It was so moved by Professor Allen and seconded by Professor Wise.

Discussion included Professors Stenger, Boehm, Cumbler, Ryan, and DeMarco.

Examining the language of the SIGS guidelines, Professor Stenger, Parliamentarian, ruled that the language of the SIGS document was broader, and that Professor Allen’s amendment would therefore be permissible.

Continued discussion of the meaning of “interdisciplinary” and “program” in the context of the document included Professors Theriot, K’Meyer, Meeks, Allen, Ryan, Weissbach, Rajack-Talley, and DeMarco.

Professor DeMarco clarified that in the SIGS document “interdisciplinary” referred to those degrees, housed in the Graduate School, which have their own separate CIP codes.

Professor Stenger moved to substitute for Professor Allen’s motion the deletion of the final sentence of II.D: “For interdisciplinary programs, one member shall come from outside the disciplines included in that degree program.” The motion was seconded by Professor Wise.

Hearing no call for discussion of the substitute motion, the Chair put the question and the motion to substitute carried.

Hearing no call for discussion of the amendment as now constituted, the Chair put the question and the motion to amend carried.

Continuing discussion of the composition of dissertation/thesis committees included Professors Ryan, Hutcheson, Weissbach, Wise, and Cumbler.

The Chair recognized Professor Hall who moved , seconded by Professor Cumbler, to change “active” in II. B. 1 to “proficient.”

Discussion included Professors K’Meyer and Weissbach.

Professor Gregg proposed substitution of “proficiency in” for “proficient,” and the substitution was accepted.

Continued discussion included Professors Fell, Luzzio, Cumbler, and Negry.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question to amend, and the motion carried.

The Chair recognized Professor Schultz who proposed as a friendly amendment the addition of “by the program” to the first sentence in I. B. 3, so that it would read “Any student who does not satisfy the published performance criteria shall by placed in probationary status by the program.”

Professor Ryan objected to the change as not friendly.

Professor Schultz moved, seconded by Professor Biberman, the addition to the document.

Discussion included Professors Stenger, Hall, Schultz, Boehm, and Weissbach.

The Chair put the question and the motion failed.

The Chair recognized Professor Willey who moved as a friendly amendment the addition of “by the College” to the first sentence in I.B.3. The amendment was accepted as friendly.

Specifying TOEFL scores in section I.C.3. was discussed by Professors Hutcheson, Brown, and Talley.

The Chair asked if there was a motion on this topic. Hearing none, he returned to the main motion.

The Chair recognized Professor DeMarco who requested clarification of II.B.3, which states that “Faculty mentors shall make provisions for continuous availability of student mentoring (physical presence or email access) throughout the calendar year.” He asked if the document permitted a mentor to appoint a substitute during his or her absence. The Chair ruled that the statement did permit this.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question on the document as amended, and the motion carried.

Hearing no call for further business, the Chair called for a motion to adjourn. Hearing such a motion and its second, the Chair declared the meeting adjourned.